1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand clamp, and more particularly to a hand clamp having an auxiliary hand grip for actuating and releasing a braking lever and for allowing the hand clamp to be easily operated with a single hand of a user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various kinds of typical hand clamps or C-clamps or clamping devices have been developed and comprise a piston rod slidably received in a grip body and including a jaw member movable toward and away from a fixed jaw that is solidly attached or coupled to the grip body for selectively grasping or gripping one or more work pieces between the jaw member and the fixed jaw.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,213 to Lii discloses one of the typical quick release C-clamp including two pawls pivotally disposed in a grip and biased to engage with a rack that is slidably engaged in the grip. In operation, the user uses his one hand grasp the grip and actuate a handle to move the rack forwardly step by step. For releasing the rack from the pawls, the user has to use the other hand to rotate the rack relative to the handle and may not easily operate the C-clamp with one hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,315 to Lee discloses another typical clamping device including a catch plate and a release panel slidably engaged onto a piston rod and biased to be released and engaged onto the rod, a hand grip pivotally secured to a housing, and a pawl rotatably secured to the housing and engaged between the hand grip and the catch plate to tilt the catch plate relative to the piston rod, and a knob also rotatably secured to the housing and engaged between the hand grip and the release panel for releasing the release panel relative to the piston rod. However, the knob and the pawl may not be easily or effectively operated by the user.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional hand clamps or clamping devices.